NOTAMs

A NOTAM - an acronym for 'Notice To Airman' - is an information circular that student pilots and above receive. It is a fantastic system conceived by some fantastically pragmatic human with the intention of informing pilots about changes and procedures at airports and in airspaces. Every month, without fail, a yellow and white wad of notes appears in the post box. And every month, without fail, I get as far as tearing the plastic sleeve off and reading the information applicable to my own airport. Due to a terrible disease, Toolazytoreadmynotamsitis, there were two wads on my desk this month.

The one month I needed to read them, I didn't... Murphy, for god's sake!

So there I was, turning up the volume for Lanseria's ground frequency, wondering why on earth my psychological foundation had abandoned me. Like a reckless little creature (a smidgen of sarcasm), I crossed over to Lanseria's tower frequency and explained that I couldn't contact ground. A woman informed me, with a slight patronising tone, that ground frequency was close after two. Right. She then preceded to preempt every radio call of mine for the entire flight, poor little girl-pilot can't read her NOTAMs. Maybe she needs help with her radio calls.

In order to avoid sure embarrassment - read your NOTAMs.